A killer raped a journalism student before murdering her and filming himself having sex with her bloodied corpse, an inquiry has revealed.

Thiago Mayson da Silva Barbosa, 28, was arrested on suspicion of raping and killing Janaina da Silva Bezerra, 21, inside a building at the Federal University of Piaui in Brazil, on 27th January.

Janaina, from Teresina, a city in north-eastern Brazil, was raped and murdered before her killer had intercourse with her corpse, which he kept for four hours after her death.

This was the conclusion of the investigation carried out by the Civil Police of Piaui.

A spokesperson also confirmed that the suspect filmed himself desecrating the body that left him covered in the victim’s blood.

Nathalia Figueiredo, a spokesperson for the department of homicide investigating the case, said: “The post-mortem report confirms sexual violence.

“There was the crime of rape, the victim was subjected to physical and psychological violence. The cause of death was the cervical dislocation that she suffered in the sexual act.

“He also practised lifeless intercourse with her.”

She added that they had retrieved footage from the suspect phone that he had tried to delete and which reportedly showed the post-mortem defilement of her corpse.

Mayson da Silva Barbosa, a Master’s student, has been indicted for double homicide, rape, procedural fraud and vilification of a corpse.

The spokesperson added: “We are pending the toxicological report, which should be out in the next few days. If it is confirmed that the victim was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, the charge will become rape of a vulnerable person.”

The suspect’s lawyer said: “It is not the intention of the defence to position the victim as guilty of the fatality, this will never be our position in this procedural battle. What we have to declare is that there was one fatality, we had one victim and two families suffering at that time.”